Chapter 25 - Applications of Advanced Carbon Materials to the Lithium Ion Secondary Battery

Abstract

This chapter describes the correlations between the microstructural parameters and the electrochemical properties of the conventional and novel types of carbon materials for Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. The market demand and the trends in the lithium-ion secondary batteries are also discussed. The Li-ion secondary batteries are the best portable energy storage device for the consumer electronics market. Recent developments of the Li-ion secondary batteries have been achieved by the use of selected carbon and graphite materials as anodes. The anode carbons include the graphitizable carbons such as—the milled mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers, and the non-graphitizable carbon such as—the polyparaphenylene-based carbon that are heat-treated at low temperatures. The carbon and graphite materials have a wide variety of microstructure, texture, crystallinity and morphology, depending on their preparation processes and precursor materials, as well as various forms such as powders, fibers and spherules. The performance of the lithium ion secondary batteries depends significantly on the microstructure of the anode materials made from carbon and graphite.